The project which was announced with great fanfare by the Solis administration one year ago, has not only failed to advance because of the need to modify the regulations on multimodal transport services, but also because now the Odiel shipping company is looking for customers and evaluating the expected profitability of the business, according to government representatives.

See: "Bureaucracy Paralyzes La Union-Caldera Cargo Ferry"

Jorge Mora, from the Port Maritime Division at the Ministry of Public Works and Transport (MOPT), told Elfinancierocr.com that   "... 'This ferry is a private business to be operated by a shipping company, therefore they are trying to make it profitable, in order to attract new customers. They are even looking at making weekly trips in order to bring in better income '. According to the official, the shipping company is assessing moving cargo from Costa Rica, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Honduras and Mexico in order to improve the economic performance of the operation. "

"... Mora did not venture on giving an exact start date for the ferry, but said it could be in late November or December.  This being conditional. "

Source: elfinancierocr.com

More on this topic

Cargo Ferry Between La Union and Caldera Back On the Table

July 2018

In order to minimize some of the impact that the Nicaraguan crisis has had on intraregional trade, the governments of Costa Rica and El Salvador have announced that they are now in a position to start ferry operations.

After unsuccessfully trying to implement this maritime cargo transport option, in May of last year the Spanish shipping company Odiel decided to end the negotiation process to operate the ferry, due to a disagreement over the setting of tariffs that would have to be charged for the service. Since then, the project has been forgotten.  

La Unión - Caldera Cargo Ferry Plan Abandoned

May 2017

Due to a disagreement over the rates that should be charged for the service, the Spanish shipping company Odiel has ended the negotiation process to operate the ferry.

The project which was announced with great fanfare by the Solís administration almost two years ago, failed to make any progress due to the need to modify the regulation on multimodal transport service, and now the operator who was interested in providing the Service, Naviera Odiel, has decided to withdraw from the negotiations, because an agreement on tariffs could not be reached. 

Bureaucracy Paralyzes La Union-Caldera Cargo Ferry

September 2016

The mania for regulatory bureaucracy which feeds its own existence is taking away flexibility in the use of resources in the economy, slowing development.

EDITORIAL

It will be impossible for Central Americans to make progress if every new business activity has to be authorized by a public official. In the region the practice is not that you can do anything that is not forbidden, but rather the general culture indicates that you can only do what the State authorizes you to do.

Bureaucracy and the Ferry Between La Union and Caldera

July 2016

A year after the announcement, the project to establish a marine cargo ferry between El Salvador and Costa Rica remains on paper.

Although it had been announced that the service would begin in late July 2016, it seems that the idea of a ferry transporting goods between the ports of Costa Rica and El Salvador at a base cost of $800 will not happen, at least for now.